No changes in situation around Mistral ships delivery to Russia — federal service

Apr 15 2015

TASS

The situation around the delivery of the French-built Mistral helicopter carriers for Russia’s Navy remains unchanged, the head of Russia’s Federal Service for Military-Technical Cooperation, Alexander Fomin, said on Wednesday at the LAAD-2015 Defense and Security International Exhibition in Brazil.

The situation around the delivery of the French-built Mistral helicopter carriers for Russia’s Navy remains unchanged, the head of Russia’s Federal Service for Military-Technical Cooperation, Alexander Fomin, said on Wednesday at the LAAD-2015 Defense and Security International Exhibition in Brazil.

"Now the [situation] is as it is. We are in a waiting mode," Fomin said, adding that there are no "sweeping changes" in the situation.

Around a month ago, Fomin said Moscow had not initiated any financial or legal sanctions against France for failing to deliver the first Mistral ship, the Vladivostok. He said the Mistral delivery was disrupted back in November last year.

The Russian Defense Ministry has repeatedly said any "civilized way out of this situation" would suit it.

The head of Russia’s arms export agency Rosoboronexport, Anatoly Isaykin, in an interview with Kommersant business daily earlier this week said Moscow and Paris had around two months to agree on the Mistral delivery.

The conditions and the current timeframe still allow to search for a compromise without "turning to courts and launching any harsh actions," he said.

The €1.12 billion contract for the construction of two Mistral-class helicopter carriers for the Russian Navy was signed in June 2011.

Under the contract, Russia was expected to receive the first of the two warships, the Vladivostok, in the autumn of 2014. However, Paris suspended the ship’s handover to Russia at the very last moment over Moscow’s stance on developments in neighboring Ukraine.

It was planned that the second ship, the Sevastopol, would be handed over to Russia in the second half of 2015. But the deal was suspended like in the case with the first Mistral ship.